Valve’s Oculus Rift Style VR Headset is Called the Vive, Coming in 2015 from HTC

As the rumors had suggested, Valve and HTC have officially announced their partnership to produce the Vive, a VR headset that will launch later this year. More details are coming during this month’s Game Developers Conference, but today we have some of the specs of the upcoming headset, which looks to be a direct competitor to the Oculus Rift.

One of the more unique features of the Vive is what they are calling the Steam VR Base Station. This device will allow you to walk around the virtual environment without a controller, seemingly by mapping out the room you are occupying and keeping you from running into objects in the real world. A space of up to 15 feet by 15 feet can be mapped out using two of the devices, making this a much more immersive virtual reality experience than we’ve seen from other headsets.

There will be controller options available though, so don’t expect to be stuck with VR-only games on the Vive. Two HTC wirless controllers will be available, as well as the highly anticipated Steam Controller from Valve. A Developer Edition of the Vive is planned for this Spring, with the consumer version hitting store shelves some time later this year.

The currently announced specifications and details, directly from the Vive website are below:

The Visuals:
A 1,200 by 1,080 pixel screen in front of each eye, with refresh rates of a blistering 90 frames per second, displays photorealistic imagery that fills your field of vision in all directions, eliminating the jitter common to previous VR technologies and transporting you to another world.

The Audio:
Plug your favorite set of headphones into a jack located on the side of the Developer Edition headset.

Tracking and Room Scale:
A gyrosensor, accelerometer, and laser position sensor combine to precisely track the rotation of your head on both axes to an accuracy of 1/10th of a degree, allowing you to look around the virtual environment naturally. Couple the headset with a pair of Steam VR base stations to track your physical location (in spaces up to 15 feet by 15 feet) – get up and walk around inisde the virtual world!

Custom and Game Controller:
Ergonomic VR game controllers in each hand allow you to use virtual objects and interact with the virtual world. The position of each controller is tracked in space, allowing developers to simulate a wide range of activities and interactions.